Deranged Writer's Afterword

‘Whip’

The sound of a whip echoed throughout the small range, it would stop for a few minutes and then once again start like clockwork.

‘Whip’

Each time the whip bared its fangs, a small whine would also accompany it, a small lion kneeled reeling from the pain it felt.

“ Seriously……how can it not even jump through a freaking hoop ?!”, a middle-aged man sighed in frustration whipping the young cub yet again.

“ It should have died with its mother.”, the young man that stood next to the other man commented, laughing to himself.

‘Whip’

The cub didn’t understand what was being said, but their faces said all that had to be told.

“ JUMP “, The man screamed, aiming the whip at the cub. They watched as the cub scampered to jump through a hoop placed in front of him, but the cub failed yet again falling.

“ YOU'RE FUCKING USELESS !”

‘Whip’

‘Whip’

‘Whip’

~~~~

The Levinsons were a rather peculiar family.

From long ago, their family had traveled around as a circus troupe and entertained all kinds of people. But as times changed, so did people’s interests, and going to the ‘circus’ wasn’t something grand anymore.

Even if their popularity had plummeted with time, the Levinsons never gave up and added a little more spice into their programs.

They decided to add animals into their act.

People started taking an interest in that fact and they slowly started regaining some of their old prestige, even though various animals had been included into the act the most famous was of course….the lions.

They were predators of the highest order, but still to a certain degree tameable under certain conditions. The lions within the troupe weren't fed properly to keep them weak, they were fed enough to just survive. They would be whipped and taught to fear their owners from a young age.

But fear is a good influencer only if you have anything to lose.

~~~~

The young cub was born into the world at dawn, as light showered on the world, its cries echoed out of a small cage. After giving birth to it, its mother passed away due to her weak constitution.

The young cub had four brothers, all better than him in every way.

They were better performers, listened properly, and were capable.

The young cub on the other hand was weak in every way, he couldn’t understand their orders and had a weak body on top of that.

As people were slowly starting to lose interest in their act, the Levinsons wanted to up their act, so they grilled the young cub every day until everything hurt.

‘Whip’

Another session was going on right now, the young cub struggled to jump through the hoop.

‘Whip’

The people before the cub, screamed incomprehensible words frightening the young cub.

‘Whip’

“ Stop it, you’re hurting him !”, a young woman’s voice reached the cub’s ears, who silently rejoiced at the arrival of his savior….his mother.

To the young cub who was always alone, the only light in this world was his mother, it knew that she wasn’t his real mother but she was the only maternal figure in his life.

Mother always took care of the cub even if the masters sometimes punished her for it, she would apply medicine to its wounds and give it extra pieces of food.

“ Che…Elena, I’ve told you to not interrupt us !”, the middle-aged man grumbled leaving as he was fed up with the cub.

The young man snickered watching Elena take away the cub.

~~~~

“ I’m sorry my father gave you such a hard time…”, Elena whispered into the cub’s ears as she patched him up.

The cub tilted its head in confusion as it didn’t understand what its mother was trying to convey.

After patching up the cub, Elena prepared to leave but stopped hearing the cub whine, a small smile spread across her face as the cub brought a ball towards her and looked at her expectantly with its wide eyes.

“ Eh…Leo….you want to play catch again ?”

~~~~

‘Leo’

A word that its mother frequently used to call to it, hearing the word made Leo feel warm and fuzzy inside.

Leo couldn’t help but notice another bruise on its mother's face as they passed the ball around.

‘Is mother also being trained ?’, it thought curiously as they passed the ball back and forth.

Time passed quickly and they stopped with their little game, Elena had lost track of time and spent way too much time with Leo, she knew that she was going to be punished for it but there was nothing she could do but accept the punishment now….she didn’t feel that bothered since she liked spending time with Leo.

They both made themselves comfortable on a patch of grass and watched the evening sun.

“ It’s beautiful isn’t it ?”Elena remarked, all she got in response was a light whine.

Elena chuckled and picked up Leo, lifting him off the ground,

“ You’re so amazing Leo….you can even understand me !”Elena smiled widely as she continued, “ You’re going to be the most powerful lion in the world aren’t you ?”

“ Purr”, the cub replied enthusiastically.

Elen laughed, but her laughter soon came to a halt as her expression darkened,

“ But you should always be good…..they’ll hurt you if you aren’t good…do you understand me ?”, Elena asked putting Leo back down,

“ Purr ?”

“ Promise me that you’ll always be good….no matter what happens….be good.”

The lion cub licked its mother's hand not understanding her, but the words ‘be good’ strangely struck a deep chord within it.

‘Be good.’

‘Be good.’

‘Be good.’

Leo repeated again and again.

These words were something it would carry on within itself for the rest of its life.

~~~~

A/N: PS GOAL: 100

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